A golf tee supports a golf ball in such a manner that the golf club may strike the ball without inference from the ground. Numerous golf tees of various forms and functions have been proposed. The most common golf tee is the wooden or plastic tee, which has a cup shaped top portion supporting the golf ball and a bottom portion, which tapers to a point, which is used to insert the tee into the ground. The wooden tee is relatively easily broken. The failure mode for plastic tees is either breakage or shape deformation. A plastic tee made of rigid material tends to have poor impact strength. A plastic tee made of flexible material tends to have material deformation in the area supporting the ball from repeated impacts from the golf club.
Most common golf tees are constructed of materials, which do not possess adequate impact strength to withstand the force delivered by the golf club. Use of a golf tee made of material harder than the striking face of the golf club would result in damage to the golf club. Traditional tees are constructed of materials, which do not yield upon impact of the golf club. Other materials, which would withstand the impact of the club head are hard enough to damage the club face or are exotic composites, which would not be cost effective for the manufacture of a golf tee.
At impact, the golf tee is frequently dislodged from the ground and propelled some distance. This frequently results in loss of the tee. The present invention addresses these and other problems.